It probably would be a tough fit, though. The Bay Bridge is a double-decker, many lanes wide, and no one here is talking about needing a bridge that wide.

While the double-decker part may be less than ideal, the width of the bridge isn't that enormous. The Tower Bridge was 52 feet wide as originally built, and its two pedestrian "outrigger" lanes make it more like 60-65 feet wide in its current form. The Bay Bridge is 57.5 feet wide.

Even more interesting: the lower level of the Bay Bridge was originally intended for trucks and interurban trains. When the Bay Bridge opened, you could take Sacramento Northern trains from Chico or Sacramento all the way to the Transbay Terminal in San Francisco, and Key System commuter trains went from the terminal throughout the Bay Area. Why not make use of a "recycled" bridge that can handle auto traffic on its upper deck, and both streetcar and pedestrian traffic (in comfortable shade) on the lower deck?

While the double-decker part may be less than ideal, the width of the bridge isn't that enormous. The Tower Bridge was 52 feet wide as originally built, and its two pedestrian "outrigger" lanes make it more like 60-65 feet wide in its current form. The Bay Bridge is 57.5 feet wide.

Even more interesting: the lower level of the Bay Bridge was originally intended for trucks and interurban trains. When the Bay Bridge opened, you could take Sacramento Northern trains from Chico or Sacramento all the way to the Transbay Terminal in San Francisco, and Key System commuter trains went from the terminal throughout the Bay Area. Why not make use of a "recycled" bridge that can handle auto traffic on its upper deck, and both streetcar and pedestrian traffic (in comfortable shade) on the lower deck?

Definitely one of the weirder ideas on record, but interesting.

I love it! It's a difficult fit, but, what the hey? I'd love to at least give the idea more thought.

Through town? That seems kind of...well, affected. Actually using it for a bridge is one thing (there is plenty of precedent for moving and reusing old bridges) but putting them downtown to represent an elevated railway we never had doesn't quite fit. (We still have part of our own "high line," the old Southern Pacific/Transcontinental Railroad main line along B Street, but we never stopped using it. The old R Street railroad levee/trestle was removed in the early 1900s but they kept running trains, just at street level.) Not to mention, where would you put such a thing?

Pushing the EnvelopeWith Sacramento’s historic post office building about to lose its namesake tenant, now is the time to think big and put our stamp on this city’s future.
by Rob Turner

In the 1930s, with the country suffering through the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated an economic stimulus plan called the New Deal, and put millions of Americans back to work by constructing thousands of new federal projects in cities across the country. And because of the program’s mandate to build high-quality structures that would last for generations, it also left a legacy of architectural gems, many of which still stand today.

It's not actually going to be vacant--it is a federal office building occupied by federal offices, only the Post Office staff will be vacating and they only use a small portion of the building. It is still kind of a bummer, because that building is very iconic and beautiful inside and out--effectively it will no longer have any public function and become a restricted-access federal building.

Of course, if the feds are willing to hand it over, it would become a great base for a satellite campus, or, better yet, part of a full-time four-year private college campus located in downtown Sacramento--and it's pretty close to another iconic and beautiful but vacant building, the old Hall of Justice at 6th and H Street, which would provide expansion room. Then all we need are some dormitory buildings for student housing...preferably, tall ones.

Of course, if the feds are willing to hand it over, it would become a great base for a satellite campus, or, better yet, part of a full-time four-year private college campus located in downtown Sacramento--and it's pretty close to another iconic and beautiful but vacant building, the old Hall of Justice at 6th and H Street, which would provide expansion room. Then all we need are some dormitory buildings for student housing...preferably, tall ones.

I like that idea. Don't forget the former police station down the street is still for sale.